For school staff, a raise to meet needs

With pay frozen or cut during the long economic downturn, school staffers around the area welcome a raise simply to make ends meet

By GABRIELLE RUSSON

With five kids — and two of them are attached with college tuition bills — John Russo isn't planning on extravagant purchases now that the teacher is expecting a $1,875 raise.

Nothing super sexy. Just pay the bills.

“Would it be nice to go on a vacation? Absolutely,” said Russo, a seventh-grade civics teacher and basketball coach at Brookside Middle School. “I just don't think that's realistic at this point in time.”

Russo is one of thousands of employees in Sarasota County schools receiving across-the-board raises for the first time in five years.

Last month, the school district and the Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association reached an agreement that gives a 3.25 percent raise to teachers, aides, bus drivers and other staff. The next step is for the School Board and union members to vote on the new contracts in October.

In neighboring Manatee County, a new contract that extends to 2016 restores some teacher pay either frozen or cut in recent years.

Several Sarasota County school employees said the proposed salary increases are well-deserved after what they called years of frustrating pay freezes. The district is among the top performing in the state and staff are being asked to do more work, such as conduct more tests, which means the raises are warranted, they said.

“I'm like everybody else,” Russo said. “The longer you work at a job, you feel as though when you're stuck at that same pay level and everything is going up around you, it becomes discouraging.”

Russo, 47, has taught at the middle school for 17 years, and it's an age group Russo said he loves. He gets excited teaching the seventh-graders about elections and their rights and responsibilities as citizens.

“This is my firm belief. People don't go into education for the money,” he said. “They go into education because they love what they do.

“Sometimes that can be a detriment. You are so dedicated to what you're doing, you're not going to let money influence you. But just like everybody else, would I like to be compensated by what I think is a fair wage? Absolutely,” said Russo, adding he does believe he is getting that.

BURNING OUTSome of the buzz Brint Jopson has overhead in recent months is from burned-out teachers who say they cannot afford to stay in the profession anymore.

True, Sarasota County teachers are among the highest paid in the state, but this is not a cheap place to live, he said.

A 3.25 percent salary increase could not come at a sweeter time, said Jopson, an aide at Oak Park School who is expected to get paid $577 extra each year.

“It's a sense of great appreciation, immense relief and huge gratitude,” Jopson said.

Riverview teacher Jon Wilder said he planned to use his $1,383 raise to help with grocery bills and other expenses.

“When you break it down on a monthly basis, it is not a huge amount,” Wilder said.

But, any money is greatly “welcomed, of course” especially at a time when the district closed a school this year and axed other budget items, Wilder said.

Wilder had previously worked a part-time job at a grocery store and tutored after school to supplement his teacher's salary.

For Jopson, the raise will also go toward groceries, gasoline and other bills to make it easier to get through the end of the month, he said.

“This is not a huge difference,” Jopson said, but the higher pay will boost morale and make staff feel more appreciated, a step in the right direction.

Just the recognition, he said, “makes people feel a lot better of the situation.”

ADDING IT UP

If the Sarasota County School Board and the union members approve the new 2013-14 contracts later this month, the raises will take effect July 1 retroactively.

With the new raises, a first-year teacher who has a bachelor's degree will get a $1,267 boost. That teacher's salary had previously been $38,997 annually and will increase to $40,264.

For a veteran teacher, say with 10 years of experience, the raise is $1,404, bumping the annual salary from $43,197 to $44,601.

The average Sarasota teacher's pay is $54,066, which translates to about $1,757 in extra pay.

For other district employees, the average bus driver will receive a $665 bonus. Bus drivers typically receive $20,452 annually, which means their pay will jump to $21,11.

The typical custodian was paid $28,709 annually, so the raise will net in $933 and bring in $29,642 annually.

Gov. Rick Scott's proposal was originally pitched as giving $2,500 to Florida teachers, although that target number decreased as more employees were added to the mix. The state allocated $6.3 million for Sarasota schools — much of it collected from local property tax dollars — and the district put in another $1.5 million so the raises could be spread evenly among all employees. Charter schools will get $1 million of that money to divvy up how they choose to staff.

Russo said he did not mind getting less than $2,500 in order to share with others, including assistant principals, secretaries and registrars and cafeteria workers.

“Everybody is helping. Everybody deserves that,” he said. “It is a team.”

After the contracts are approved, the school board must also decide whether to grant the same 3.25 percent raises to administrators and district officials who are not represented in the union.

“There's been no decision whether they'll receive the same amount,” said Al Weidner, the deputy chief financial officer. “Normally they do, but right now that hasn't actually been agreed upon.”